Traditional Academic Presentation of Research Findings and Public Policies

Abstract

The transmission process of research results in the field of public policy reveals various peculiarities. In order to approach its study, it ought first to be pointed out that, in the academic field, power mechanisms have been observed, which have traditionally institutionalized certain topics and certain actors, making others invisible during the process. Furthermore, the last decades have revealed the role of politics in research production, which may be understood as a chance that the research results might be taken into account and exert an influence on public policy decisions oriented toward the people’s life improvement – though this does not always happen, in practice. The aim of this chapter is to review the subject of power in the scientific field (Bourdieu, Sociología y cultura. México: Grijalbo, 1984) and the researchers’ freedom to make further progress in the definition of the concept of public policy and, on that basis, study the possible ways in which research results may be reflected in the arena of political decisions by identifying its obstacles and facilitators and proposing options to bridge the gap.

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